From Past Burdens to an Extraordinary Future: Embracing Your Inner Warrior and Unlocking Life's Potential

Have you ever pondered the weight of your past and how shedding it could lead to an extraordinary future? Christine Jewell, a luminary in personal transformation, joins me, John Gallagher, on the Uncommon Leader Podcast to share her riveting journey detailed in her new book, "Drop the Armor, Release the Past, Ignite Your Faith, and Unlock an Extraordinary Life." We delve into Christine's pivotal childhood and how it forged a relentless warrior spirit within her, touching on the lessons she's garnered from a life sculpted by luxury, beauty, darkness, and chaos. It's a conversation that will leave you equipped with the wisdom to break free from your own armor and embrace the fullness of life.

Embark on an exploration of the inner warrior where competition and ambition intersect with spiritual strength and the profound impact of our words. The episode reveals the transformative power of fighting with purpose and passion, rooted in the heart's desires rather than external validation. Christine and I share insights into how the metaphorical sword isn't just about strife but a symbol of guidance for a spiritual quest, leading us to champion what is most significant in our lives. This discussion is a clarion call to shed destructive armors and emerge with a renewed sense of purpose that resonates deeply with the heart.

The final chapter of our conversation is a testament to the courage it takes to face life's 'Perfect Storms' and how these moments can catalyze a remarkable transformation into a warrior of the heart. I reflect on the profound impact of the global pandemic, urging listeners to adapt and thrive amidst the new realities it has spawned. We talk about the necessary steps towards personal revolution, beginning with a crucial first stride that sets you on the path of embracing the unknown with resilience and grace. Christine's story is not just inspiring; it's a roadmap to unlocking the extraordinary life that awaits when we align with the life God intends for us.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I do believe something has to happen, either in us or to us, to really rattle us, rattle us to the core and rattle us to the core where it really shatters and shakes everything that we thought, everything that we believed, everything that we thought we were our identity right. And some of us need many of these moments in our life before we finally get it. I bet I had several at that point, but I was a fighter.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast and I'm your host, john Gallagher, today. I'm truly excited to have the inspirational and encouraging Christine Jewell as our guest on the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Join us as we dive into our upcoming book Drop the Armor, release the Past, ignite your Faith and Unlock an Extraordinary Life. Get ready for an inspiring conversation that examines Christine's personal journey and the powerful insights she shares in her book, as well as her career as a faith-based executive coach. Stay tuned for an episode full of wisdom, vulnerability and empowerment. Let's get started. Christine Jewell, welcome to the Uncommon Leader podcast. I'm so excited about having you as a guest on the show today. How are you doing?

Speaker 1: 1:16

I'm awesome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Absolutely Well. I know it's going to be a great conversation. We're going to be talking about your book Drop the Armor, release the Past, ignite your Faith and Unlock an Extraordinary Life that's coming out real soon. And we want the listeners to wait until the end to hear a lot of good stuff about things you've got going on with your book launch, but I always start my first-time guests with the same question and I won't do anything different for you.

Speaker 1: 1:51

But I'd ask you to tell me a story from your childhood that still impacts who you are as a person or a leader today. This is such a powerful question. This is such a good question. Where do we even pick the stories? You know, I think that well, obviously, I'm going to just start with really where the book is from right. I'm going to say that there's so many great stories and the one thing that really was the seed that started everything, for the book that's coming out is really the moment when I was five years old.

Speaker 1: 2:15

When I was young, my dad worked for the CIA. We traveled a lot. We moved countries often, so, you know, we were always changing environments and things. And when we landed in Italy, my mom's Italian, so we landed, always changing environments and things. And when we landed in Italy, my mom's Italian, so we landed in Italy for a season, and so I was really young and that was a time that was really hard for my father. He was, you know, different country, struggling with alcoholism and stuff.

Speaker 1: 2:37

And I remember when I was five, I was sitting at the dinner table one night and watching my dad. He had been going through bouts of depression and really struggling with things, inner things that he was struggling with. And at that moment I saw my dad sort of start to fall down in the chair and he used to play this joke with us sometimes that he would pretend like he was like dying or falling asleep in the chair and I don't, he had kind of a sick sense of humor, but that was a time that was for real and he actually had overdosed on some pills. And I remember there was a frenetic you know frenzy in the house. Neighbors came over and were getting me dressed and I was five years old at the time and I just saw the ambulance taking my dad away and I didn't really understand what was going on.

Speaker 1: 3:24

And you know, in those moments it's like boom, something got stamped in your psyche, in your nervous system. It's like, oh my gosh, I'm unsafe, I'm unprotected, my protector is gone, like what's going to happen to him, and at a at a very deep level. That was a moment where really I call it like the first seeds of the warrior that had to self-protect, you know, look after herself, were born. It was like something in me made a decision that moment that if it was going to be, I was going to have to look after myself. From that moment on, I was going to have to look after my brother, I was going to have to look after my mom, I was going to have to look after everyone.

Speaker 1: 4:00

And so, even though you know, we had many beautiful experiences afterwards, and as I talk about in the book, my life was a total blend of two worlds that seemed completely opposite, colliding right on one hand, beauty and wonder and travel in a luxurious lifestyle, and the other one, very dark and chaotic.

Speaker 1: 4:18

But that was really a seed that planted the operating systems for so many years to come, where this drive to protect and drive to perform and drive to have to be the one that figures it all out. I call it like the lone wolf. You know, was born too, and it just dictated so many of my decisions, from how I went through school, to how I performed in athletics, to the sports I chose to play, which were all individual sports except for soccer, you know, to how I started my business, to how I chose to play, which were all individual sports except for soccer, you know, to how I started my business, to how I ran my business, to how I operated in my marriages, really just feeling like okay, I had to always protect myself from whatever was on the outside until we broke that cycle, so I'm just going to hit it home right there. I could have gone with a beautiful story, but that's really the premise of where all the walls started getting built and all the armor of protection.

Speaker 2: 5:12

I appreciate that story and you had obviously having to grow up really fast and understanding that and many times I mean these are the stories of things that we overcome and I know that your book. I've had a chance to read a pretty large excerpt from the start of the book. I know you've got a story to tell and you have individuals who need to learn from that. One of the things that we have a common acquaintance in, roy Vaden, who says you're most powerfully positioned to help the person that you used to be.

Speaker 1: 5:42

And.

Speaker 2: 5:42

I can see that this book would be to help both you, I think, going through the journey as I listen to it, but others. So let's jump right into your book, then it brings us to today. Really, you have this book coming out. Why this book? Why now? Who did you write it for?

Speaker 1: 5:59

Well, the book was written for those ultra high achievers, those highly driven and there's type B personalities too that are highly driven but the ones that have been fighting battles their whole lives. They've been programmed to perform, to produce. You know entrepreneurs, founders, executives, high level people where we're just and again, it's for anyone. You can be a stay-at-home mom and be highly driven and want to do it all yourself. You know, but really you identify as a warrior at heart, that you have been fighting battles your whole life. You've had to be the creator of your reality, which we are to some level. But I also want to kind of debunk that myth.

Speaker 1: 6:34

And you've gotten to the place where you've been striving and striving and chasing and pursuing and building, and you get to a place where you wake up and you're exhausted, mentally, overwhelmed, emotionally, feeling empty, spiritually, longing. You know there's a void inside and, as I actually put a LinkedIn post out today about it, I was just like I almost wanted. I did get to the point where I wanted to burn it all down, cause I was like this is not sustainable. What got me here is now the very thing that's like eating me alive from the inside out, and so I think we hit that point where you know that program worked for a season, it was part of our evolution until we realized something has to really drastically change if we're going to actually lead a life of true freedom, fulfillment and purpose without, you know, sacrificing everything else that matters. So this is really who it's written for. Is that person Like? There's so much more? There's so much more if we learn to fight different, if we learn to lead different.

Speaker 2: 7:35

I want to put a pin in that fight different because they came back to me. That was one of the questions that I wrote down early on. But I want to talk to you about that word warrior and how you came to that. So you start the book off as you're writing a letter and you say dear warrior, yes, what is? That? Where's that word for you in terms of the meaning and how you get started there?

Speaker 1: 7:55

Well, I think that we all have these personas or archetypes that we relate to. You know, I use a lot of this language in my life warriors, queens, kings and I believe we all have like an inner child inside of us and a sage, a wise man, a wise woman. You know, we have like the wild one, we have the warrior, and there's, I think, archetypes that we just resonate with. That we sort of been playing out our whole life. But, as I mentioned, you know, when you are, you have this program and you get rewarded for it. Right, like you, I got rewarded for performing, I got rewarded for fighting, I got rewarded for being in the challenge. So you're always seeking more of what you get rewarded for and it just reinforces the program. Right, you get love when you compete, you get significance when you push, you know, and so it just strengthens that inner warrior that says I got to fight, I got to chase, I got to pursue, I got to win the trophies, get the grades, be the best looking person, the smartest one, whatever in the room. But it is really a battle that we're always fighting. You know, it seems like you're fighting against yourself, you're fighting against everyone else, but really, at the core. This warrior, I do believe, is part of what God created me to be and I believe he created all of us to be warriors at some level, but some more so than others. We're just fighters Like, we're just natural born. We love the challenge, we love the mountains, we love the giants to slay, and I think that's a gift. But when we don't understand how to really harness the gift and channel it so that it's actually life-giving not only for ourselves but for everything that we've been entrusted to create and to multiply, then it can get really destructive and we start fighting everything and trying to slay everything and everyone in our path. You know, as was my story. I was like if you're in my way, get out, because I'm like you know.

Speaker 1: 9:36

I remember having a sign on the wall that was like second place is first loser. I remember John, somebody I was dating. I went on a first date with somebody and this is how distorted it is that I was racing I get. So I invite this guy that I'm about to date to one of my first races, which is a triathlon, and it was the end of the race. So isn't that funny. I want this man to come so he can see me win, he can watch me perform right and pick your thing.

Speaker 1: 10:03

For me it was athletics at the time. But he was standing on the sideline about a mile from the finish line and all I heard was him screaming second place is first loser, second place is first loser. And you know what it worked? It put a fire under my butt that had me go, because I didn't want him to see me become the loser. And so did it work. Yes, it also spurred the start of a crazy motile relationship that lasted eight years where that was sort of the foundation of we competed with each other. We were always competing and it was like this fire under your butt to try to not be the loser and not be second place or lose and having to prove yourself. And that's really the shift is becoming a warrior who operates from a fire in your heart, not because you need to prove something to someone on the outside or you don't want to be seen as the loser. You're afraid of losing something Maybe it's a marriage, maybe it's your business, whatever but that you're really operating from a fire, a holy fire.

Speaker 2: 11:02

I love that from the heart rather than from your head, in terms of the competition things like that that are going on, and you mentioned slaying those things as well. Now, those who are listening on audio won't be able to see this, but I love the book cover and it's very unique for a book. So this is not the book. We don't have a copy of the book yet, but I did have and you've got the sword, and so those who are just listening in, you've got a sword in front of one eye. Tell me the story behind this. How did you get, how did you think of, how did you create this book cover to drop the armor?

Speaker 1: 11:31

You know what is so awesome as I went through my season of you know I talk about it in the book, in the first chapter of the Perfect Storm my face down moment of the ground, of really releasing, saying I'm done, like really being done. I think we go through these moments where we have these things that we say but then we don't really mean it. But this was the moment where I meant it. It was like my burn the boats moment and I just said, okay, god, you got to come in here and take the wheel, like I'm done operating. Something has to change. I went through right after that. I went through a season which was about 18 months I call it the wilderness where I really went through a process of releasing, trusting into the new thing, and I spent a lot of time in solitude, a lot of time in quiet and I was writing and that's actually in my journals. You can't see them on video, but underneath here I have about 35 journals that I keep that I've been writing and that's actually when a lot of these dear warrior love letters started coming through and one of them is in the book. I share several of them, but it was really like the breath of God was like speaking into me and my heart, you know, just into my soul, saying like dear warrior, I see you, you don't have to keep fighting that way. And it was like this word, this breath kept coming through. And so during that season, I just felt like I was really being taught how to use my sword, my words, my weapons, my tools differently, to fight for something completely different.

Speaker 1: 12:53

So the sword represents first of all the word of God. That's, you know, for me, from a biblical perspective, the word is the sword, the spirit. It's how we slay in the spiritual realm, it's how we cut through the atmosphere, we cut through the lies when we understand the power of our words, man. So I used to have this sword in my office as a reminder be careful what comes out of your mouth, because you can cut somebody apart, you know, and I think most relationships are torn apart because it's death by a thousand paper cuts, by what we do with the mouth, the sword of the mouth, you know.

Speaker 1: 13:28

So it represents the word of God being breathed into our life. It represents the words that we choose. It also represents how I choose to move through life differently. Now, what am I choosing to slay. What do I see as my dragon or my giant? Because sometimes you look at your spouse and you think they're the enemy, or your employee or the economy. And we have to realize, like we got to, we got to learn to fight different. We got to learn to see a different lay of the land, you know, activate different battle strategies and different tactics. Otherwise we're just running around in circles and we're wondering why I always feel like I'm in a battle and I'm bleeding out and putting out fires and exhausted right. So the sword is about fighting different.

Speaker 2: 14:11

Well, I think it's very unique, it's very uncommon when it comes to book covers and I think it's really cool, so I'm glad you did that. So let's come back to the point about fighting difference. I'm just going to share just a little bit. This new world will require a new type of warrior, a warrior who is grounded, calm and fierce, with purpose. So that's the target state in terms of where that is. And you say that our old battle tactics will no longer work. In fact, they will be the very things that throw us off course, distract us and destroy the relationships that we have. So what are some of those old battle tactics that we use that are getting in our way right now?

Speaker 1: 14:50

That's a loaded question, right, that's a loaded question. But I think it's those things that we've always tried, we've always done and maybe they got you somewhere for a season, but now they're just like. It's like you're hitting your head against the wall. So I'm going to use first of all for relationships. You know I do a lot of work in the arena of relationships marriage, reconciling relationships. Obviously, that's where a lot of the wounding. I think relationships are the core for all of our problems. I would say, all your problems are relationships, problems of relationship with yourself, relationship with the opposite sex, relationship with God, with money, with whatever. So I think, when we think about the old battle tactics, you know, so much of the work I do is around relationships and communication and couples saying like, well, I'm trying to talk to her. I'm trying to talk to her, how do I get her to trust me? How do I get her to listen? How do I get him to? And it's so much of the.

Speaker 1: 15:42

So many of the strategies we use are actually very manipulative. We're trying to change somebody's thinking or get somebody to do what we want them to do. They're very ego driven. It's like, well, why did you look at me that way? Why are you saying that about me? Oh, you're disappointed. It must be about me. So we don't even realize that what's leading a lot of and driving a lot of our tactics is actually like a spirit or energy of manipulation and control which is actually unconscious, right? So when we're talking to someone and it's like we're talking at them, we're trying to fix them, we're pushing our agenda onto them Instead of really seeking first to understand, really being curious.

Speaker 1: 16:20

You know old battle tactics. A lot is drive in there, like especially the people I'm talking to. It's like you got an agenda, you got a plan, it's your way, or the highway, like you know, you're the driver, you're used to it, and it's some of us are still way up in our head when we go in and we have a conversation with someone else who's also all up in their head and defensive and protecting. It's like two bulls in a china closet. You guys are just butting heads, and I see this in executive teams a lot, where there's a lot of peacocking and fighting and everybody's just. You know. I see this in relationships of couples, I see this in parenting, and the old tactics just aren't working.

Speaker 1: 16:56

I also want to say, too, one of the missions for Mark and I is really to wake up corporate America Wake up, and I think that the way we've run corporations I'm happy to see more and more leaders rising and changing the tides, but I think it's time that we develop new strategies and leadership tactics of how we lead, how we build teams, how we build teams from the inside out, how we change culture from the inside out. It's no longer chasing profits. I don't think our clients are actually our clients. I think our staff, our team members are our core clients people we need to invest in right. It's about getting things in the right order.

Speaker 2: 17:33

Hey listeners, I want to take a quick moment to share something special with you. Many of the topics and discussions we have on this podcast are areas where I provide coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations. If you've been inspired by our conversation and are seeking a catalyst for change in your own life or within your team, I invite you to visit coachjohngallaghercom forward slash free call to sign up for a free coaching call with me. It's an opportunity for us to connect, discuss your unique challenges and explore how coaching or consulting can benefit you and your team. Okay, let's get back to the show.

Speaker 2: 18:12

Christine, I appreciate that and actually it leads into one of the stories because I wanted to ask if there was a moment for you where you had the awareness of becoming that warrior. You mentioned your husband, mark. I think the story in the book about how you met him for the first time is pretty powerful and what led up to that, and that only God could have brought that relationship together. But was there a moment maybe that's what it is in terms of that you shared? You were very transparent in the early part of the book about your past and your story that got you there. Was there a moment that really helped you realize you needed to be different as well. Make a change.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Well, I think there was that moment and again we're going to talk about it In the first chapter it's called the Perfect Storm, because it really was this definitive moment and some people call it the dark night of the soul, some people call it ego death. Some people call it the dark night of the soul. Some people call it ego death. Some people call it like the breakdown before the breakthrough. But I do believe something has to happen, either in us or to us, to really rattle us. Rattle us to the core and rattle us to the core where it really shatters and shakes everything that we thought, everything that we believed, everything that we thought we were our identity right. And some of us need many of these moments in our life before we finally get it. I had several at that point, but I was a fighter, I was a warrior. I was like, okay, I'll take the next challenge. But this was a moment it was my 40th birthday where I was really there. I was away on my girl's weekend with my girlfriends and from the outside I looked like I had it all together. My building had my picture on it. We had a 10 years in business, profitable business year over year. I was very fit, doing double workouts every day religiously, you know, 15% body fat or whatever. I was an attractive woman.

Speaker 1: 19:55

I was in a relationship, my kids were in a private school, but internally I was like so broken. You know my I was face down and like everything in my body was aching and hurting and I knew that like I needed to learn how to fight. Different I was. I knew I was a warrior. I knew that was always going to be part of who I was. But I just remember saying like I cannot do this anymore. And really that was the first moment where I actually listened, and it was a season of listening that I was pulled into, where I felt the spirit really come in and say okay, are you ready? Are you ready to let me lead you now, instead of trying to step on my toes and do it your way and fight me.

Speaker 1: 20:38

I had a big rebellious streak in me. I did from the time I was a kid. If my parents told me to do one thing, I did the opposite. It was like if you wanted to tell me to do something, you better have told me the opposite, cause I was not doing what anyone told me. So the word submission was not in my vocabulary. The word obedience was not in my vocabulary, it was and that was really the moment where I just felt the spirit saying, okay, you're going to let me take the lead.

Speaker 1: 21:04

And what I want to say about that is because I talk about going from being a warrior of the world to being a warrior of the heart. That was really when I gave my heart to God, to the future that he would have for me, to his plans and his will over mine, because I was trying to build businesses and brands and money and wealth and family and relationships my way. It just wasn't working sustainably. It was working, but it was like a hot mess, you know, really behind the scenes. So I would say that that's the moment, you know that I gave my heart. And then I want to say it's a process, it's not like, oh, it's done. You know you got to go through the process.

Speaker 2: 21:40

Well, I think that's I appreciate that as well, because, again, recognizing that first something has to happen in us or to us that really rattles us, that shakes us, that moves us from where we are in terms of the discomfort that we, or the comfort, maybe, that we have in the space that we're in and to a place that has to be different to become that warrior of the heart that you're talking about. And so, for those who maybe are at that point as well, where they got there, you talk about 11 steps to undertake to transform into this new warrior, warrior of the heart, realizing we don't have time to go through all 11, and you want folks to buy the book anyway to learn what those steps are. Is there, is there one step in terms of getting folks started in that process, what they really need to do? How does somebody get started?

Speaker 1: 22:25

Well, I think the first thing. It reminds me of the conversation, john, you and I were having before we hit record on here just about the pandemic and COVID and what a shift that was for some people, and there's some people now that have radically different lives. That was a doorway, a runway, an opportunity where the old had to go. You know the old business structure, the old. You know the way the employees met and companies, the way the family life structured, like everything. It changed everything. It was a worldwide rattling, it was a shaking and there's lots of ideas around that. But you could see the people who really leaned in and embraced the great unknown versus those who are still waiting for things to get back to the way things were. And I've coached some of those clients. I'm sure you've worked with some of those companies that are.

Speaker 1: 23:10

It's like they don't realize we're in a new era. We're in a new era, we're in a new time and place, like the way people meet, the way business is conducted, the way everything is different, and I really do believe it was a definitive point and I do believe that we're in this new era right now. That is really calling us to be the innovators, the ones who are zigging when other people are zagging. So to me, that point and it's one of the first chapters is really embracing the great unknown. We need to get rid of this addiction to needing to know every stage of the game, the lay of the land. That's so programmed in us like set your goals, make your pathway, work the problem backwards, make your plans yes, and we make our plans, but the Lord establishes our steps. So make your plans, set your vision, but then be ready to lean in to the unknown, because I know, I've come to know this If you want to go where God is taking you, he's not giving you the whole blueprint like that, because it requires trust, it requires faith. I call it like. It's like you guys are working in partnership. You entered into this partnership where you're like I'm still a CEO, I have to execute. You know he's not coming down and doing it for me. I need to execute, I need to take action, but I really need to be comfortable operating in the unknown and normalize that.

Speaker 1: 24:29

So I talk about really embracing a spirit of adventure. I'm a big adventure at heart. I love to travel, I love the mountains, I love the jungle. I love, I love to be in those unknown places and if you think about that, those are the short stories we share. You know, even as warriors going back to the wars, don't we share those moments where we were like I couldn't see, I was in the unknown, I was in the uncharted waters and then, like boom, something happened and a door open and this opportunity came and these unknown, unexpected things happen. And that's really the invitation is are you ready to move into this new space, this new operating, this new playing field? If the answer is yes, we've got to normalize the unknown as the place where we hang out.

Speaker 1: 25:12

One of my friends, miguel, told me once. He said, you know, says, don't fall in love with the view for too long because God's always on the move. So love where you're at, enjoy the view, but when he calls you to go, when that that pull comes, maybe it's a different business idea or a different business structure, or a new relationship or whatever. You guys need to move as a family. Are you going to freak out and hold onto the past, and this is like the definition of suffering staying where you're not meant to be anymore?

Speaker 2: 25:40

That's right. Trying to control it A hundred percent Right. And fear is the driver.

Speaker 1: 25:45

Fear is the driver instead of love, which is creation, creativity.

Speaker 2: 25:50

When you mentioned the unknowns. It's the unknown that keeps us from stepping into that. Christine, I can't believe how fast our time has gone. I want to honor your time and one of my favorite questions to ask authors, especially new authors, is the book test question. Folks are going to get your book. It's coming out real soon. Folks are going to read it and I think it's going to be a powerful book and it's going to impact many lives. Folks are going to read it and, just like this shelf behind me, they're going to set it up on the shelf. They're going to look at those books and a year later, they're going to see your book on their bookshelf. What do you want them to feel? What do you want them to think? What do you want them to do after reading your book and looking at it, really, a year from now as well?

Speaker 1: 26:33

I really do. My hope is obviously you know this, I know this as authors and podcasters there are people who eat content and never apply it. They love to collect books so they can show everybody they collected books. And the work works if you work it and if you let it work you. And so my hope is that when someone looks back on that book, that they have marked the pages that they've written in it, that they've got intimate with the questions, they have done the work and they've let the work work on that Meaning you don't just like speed, read the book, but they took the time to digest it, to let it marinate into their lives.

Speaker 1: 27:08

It took the time to take action. And I do believe that and I know from my own life and from the work that I do with my clients who I take through this process I hope that they can look at that book and say, wow, that was the doorway that I needed to get to the life I have today. Because it's a doorway, it's a gateway to a different life, a different reality, and I know that. I know that it works because I walk through it. I'm walking through it again and the beautiful thing is, this time I don't need a breakdown. I just listened to the call. I'm following the steps again because God is calling Mark and I into the next thing together. So it works and I knew that the new life, the new reality is on the other side. But you got to do the work.

Speaker 2: 27:52

Love that. I think you have to be that continuous learner. You have to be going through that cycle many times we don't get to a point where we're done. Once we think we're done, really we've just begun, and I hear that in your voice and I hear that in the story that's coming out with your book, Christine. I just got a couple more questions. One is how do folks find your book and then how do they also connect with you? What's the best way?

Speaker 1: 28:15

Awesome. Well, we're doing a couple things. First of all, we're giving away the first chapter of the book, as well as the first warrior letter that you talked about, which I think is very moving. I still am so moved every time I read it. I think it really speak to your heart. So we are giving that away for free so you can get in there. Let it just start to move you. You can get that at thechristinejewelcom slash. Drop it. So we're going to drop it to you. We want you to start to drop it. Drop the armor. The book is dropping June 3rd, so that's thechristinejewelcom slash, drop it. And then, obviously, after the book comes out, you can go ahead and pre-order the book at dropthearmorbookcom. But I really want to gift everybody that first chapter and then get it, and then you'll be able to buy the book after that. So that's the best way to get in. Get in on my world, get it on the list, get to know what's happening, what's coming up.

Speaker 2: 29:07

We have lots of awesome things. I'll put both those links in the show notes to make sure folks get to it, and then I will actually, christine, give you my last question, which I give my first time guests as well, as we finish up here, and again, I'm so appreciative of the time that you invested with the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast, but I'm going to give you a billboard. You can put it anywhere you want to. You can put any message you want to on that billboard. What's the message and why do you put it on there?

Speaker 1: 29:34

Well, I think right now I don't think, I know, right now I would put the cover of that book because I think it's so captivating, it pulls you right in with those big words Is it time to drop the armor, release your past, ignite your faith and step into life God has for you. That's it, I mean that book to me, to me, that is a billboard. So that's the message. I want people to realize that God has so much, there's so much waiting for us. If we can get rid of this, these walls of pretending, protecting, performing pain that has been stacking over the years, if we can move forward lighter. Uh, I was, I was just saying you know where well God has for you. The calling that's that's on our life will require us to pack light, take only what's essential and let him provide the rest. And that's really the message of drop the armor, drop it.

Speaker 2: 30:25

Christine, I wish you the best with the book launch and going forward you and Mark both, so I wish you all the success that you want to need.

Speaker 1: 30:31

Okay, Thank you so much, John. Thank you.

Speaker 2: 30:37

And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.